


Hinata's Wall

by Foodmoon



Series: Sakura, Empath [10]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen, Hinata breaks a wall, Hinata stands up for her friends, Hinata unwittingly impresses her family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-10
Updated: 2018-05-10
Packaged: 2019-05-04 15:32:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14596098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Foodmoon/pseuds/Foodmoon
Summary: Hinata unexpectedly runs into her father.





	Hinata's Wall

Hinata practices not hunching in on herself as she walks through the halls. It’s tough. She technically still lives here, comes here to sleep and eat breakfast, but she’s under Kurenai’s guardianship now _(not that the jounin has much time for her because of missions; she’s learned way more studying with her friends)_ and not very welcome here since her failure as the family heiress. But she needs to find that scroll on sealing for Naruto and that’s in the library, so she can’t just avoid the family the way she usually does. But this is a quiet time of day, with few people around, so hopefully she won’t run into anyone.

Of course that jinxes it.

“Hinata.” She nearly jumps out of her skin as her father somehow manages to sneak up in front of her out of apparently nowhere, although probably from his study, given the time of day, voice and face disapproving. “It has come to my attention that your choice of friends is somewhat questionable. Although you are no longer the clan heir, you should be more careful of the clan’s reputation. That boy-”

Rage flashes through Hinata as she realizes that this is about Naruto. Always, always Naruto. The adults treating him like he’s a monster when he’s the kindest, strongest person she’s _ever_ met. She slams her fist against the wall, pulsing chakra from habit through the third level dent seal she’d been carrying to practice with later. Used up, the paper seal crumbles to dust in her palm as the wall shatters.

Her father stares in shock and she realizes that he’s not even looking at her, and standing up for Naruto _felt good_ and the anger is _still there_. Without thought, her hands flash through the subtle hand signs for the jutsus Iruka sensei had given to Sasuke _(for loud voice)_ and her _(intimidation)_ because she’s been practicing them doggedly _every day_. Sign sets that are oddly almost the reverse of each other and which take concentration to layer like this and by the time her father looks back at her, her hands are clenched in the last sign, disguising it as mere emotion.

 _“My **friends** are **none** of the clan’s business! I am not the clan heir, as you so rightly pointed out.”_ She’s so angry she’s shaking. No. That’s not it. She’s _not_ shaking, she just feels like it. _“The clan has **no say** in whom I choose to be friends with!”_

Her father’s eyes move between her and the rather large hole in the wall, where the plaster is still crumbling in slow pieces around the edges. “Is this why you threw your fight with Hanabi?”

 _“Yes.”_ She knows he’s probably not asking the same question she’s answering, but it’s true either way. She couldn’t risk harming her little sister like that. It wasn’t so much throwing the fight as understanding how much damage she could do with that one strike. She hadn’t expected Hanabi to recover that fast. Hanabi was definitely better as the clan heiress than she had ever been. And thinking about it makes her want to hyperventilate, remembering the aftermath, so she stalks past him before the jutsus are disrupted by her emotional state, so that he can’t try to guilt her about Naruto more without going out of his way to come to her, which he will never do now that she’s disappointed him so deeply by failing at being his heir.

She manages to hold the jutsus until she is in the clan library, then hides among the shelves while she shakes. It takes her a while to settle down enough to look for the scroll properly, but it’s not hard to find once she calms down enough to remember where it is. There’s all kinds of mostly abandoned scrolls in this section, only not dusty because one of the branch family is tasked to dust in here once a week. On second thought, she looks through several others and ends up borrowing a couple more in case her father decides to disown her entirely or something for helping out Naruto.

It’s not until she gets back to her room without being accosted again that she realizes that she hadn’t stuttered even _once_ during the confrontation with her father.

~

Hanabi and her grandfather come up the hall behind Hinata, who takes no notice of them, but before she can call out to her nee-san, their father stops Hinata. She hears only the tail end of her father’s words as she and her grandfather draw close, then pause to stay out of the matter.

“…That boy-”

Hinata slams the back of her fist against the wall, there is a _CRACK_ and the wall starts crumbling plaster until a nearly four foot wide hole gapes into the next room, and Hinata _snarls_ at their father that the clan has no say in her friends now that she’s not heir.

And then their father asks, sounding faintly stunned, “Is _this_ why you threw your fight with Hanabi?”

Like he’s _hopeful_ or it’s beyond his comprehension or _both_. And… Hinata had _thrown their fight!?_

 _“Yes!”_ Hinata snarls back at him before _stomping_ past him.

Why? How had she not even noticed? Is _that_ why their father had been so angry with nee-san? And just… Why? She doesn’t understand. Her nee-san isn’t a coward, she knows that. Hinata would never shirk her duties simply because she didn’t want them anymore. So had she really thought Hanabi would be a better heir? Or had she just been afraid of _killing_ her on accident? How much has nee-san been holding back all this time since she’s _this_ strong?

Hanabi shivers. She knows what that feels like, had been so afraid that she’d killed nee-san when she’d focused to try to keep up with her and had hit her full on and she’d gone flying and lain so still for a few moments.

“She was using a jutsu.” Her grandfather murmurs, too quietly for her father to hear clearly. “Interesting.”

Hanabi’s not sure why that’s interesting, except that _she_ can’t use jutsus yet and there’s a shocked looking branch house member looking at the damage from the other side of the wall. She can see him clearly through the hole. It’s a _large_ hole.

Her father turns at the sound of a voice with a blank, slightly helpless look on his face. “I didn’t even know she _could_ be assertive outside of following orders.”

“Hm. Seems like her friends have made her stronger.” Her grandfather comments in a still-thoughtful tone. “The boy is no more threat to anyone than his mother was, after all. And without the Uchihas around… well.”

Her father frowns, then sighs. “I suppose not. At least the rest of her friends are respectable enough. Clan heirs for the most part.”

Hanabi is _really, really confused_ , but she knows that they have no intention of explaining it to her. She wonders if ‘that boy’ is that stupid looking weird blond kid Hinata sometimes sneaks off to watch. Then it hits her. _Nee-san has friends?_ That’s not fair! _She_ wants to spend time with nee-san too, and now _she’s_ the one too busy to have time to play with nee-san.

~

The shaky dregs of adrenaline worn off leave her feeling flat and calm, a little nauseous, but too drained to work up more emotion immediately. Combined with amazement at herself for _not stuttering_ when confronting her father, it carries her through doing what little homework she hadn’t finished earlier with the study group, _her pack,_ as Kiba would say.

But then she realizes that for all that she’s terribly proud of herself for being brave and not letting herself be backed into abandoning a friend, _she put a hole in a wall_ and not a little hole, either. Oh Kami, she _yelled at her father and used an intimidation jutsu on him._ She used an intimidation jutsu on the Hyuuga clan head _and it had worked_. She’s gonna die, she’s going to be disowned for real this time, she- With trembling hands she packs everything she needs for school, a few things she can’t live without, and a couple changes of clothing. She makes sure the borrowed scrolls are tucked in carefully so as to avoid any damage, and as an afterthought, grabs her winter coat as well, fleeing before her father can get over his shock and throw her out without anything. The branch house member watching the gate doesn’t even twitch as she runs by him. Disinherited or not, she’s still a main house member _(for now)_ and she can go wherever she wants _(until her father officially forbids it)._ Another thing her cousin had always hated about her. Not that it matters _now_.

The apartment building Naruto lives in is as she remembers it. Average, run by one of the few civilians who doesn’t _care_ who lives there as long as they pay rent and don’t damage the building or other tenants while on the property. She knows it’s where he lives because she was passing by one day and saw him go in. And, okay, she _had_ asked Sakura what Naruto’s room number was, which had earned her a long look before she’d been granted an answer.

She pounds on his door before she can overthink it and-

Naruto opens the door looking sleepy and puzzled, a frog sleep hat making him look more harmless than ever. “Hinata? What are you doing here?”

“N-N-Naruto, I-I g-g-got th-th-the s-sc-scrolls b-b-but-”

He frowns slightly and tugs on her arm. “Come in.”

Oh, right. The neighbors. She lets him tug her inside.

“So, what’s wrong? Did you get in trouble for taking the scroll or something?”

“U-Um, n-n-no. B-b-but I r-ran i-into m-my f-f-father a-an-and p-put a r-r-really b-big h-ho-hole i-in th-the w-wall an-and I th-think h-he’s g-going to dis-disown m-me a-an-and u-um. C-Can I s-st-st-stay th-the n-ni-night h-here? Um.” Oh Kami, she’s pathetic and he’s going to refuse and-

“Sure, Hinata. I mean, I don’t really understand about the wall and your father, but you can stay here any time you need. Because you’re my friend, believe it!”

It’s overwhelming, and so like him. _So strong, so kind, so-_ Surely no one can blame her for fainting in the face of such generosity?

~

Naruto stares down at his dark haired friend sprawled unconscious on his floor and wonders if she’s alright. She’d sounded awfully panicked about her father. And what was that about a wall?

“Um.”

So, now what? He doesn’t think boys are supposed to touch girls without their permission, but sleeping on the floor is kind of weird. After a moment, he sighs, scratching his head, then goes and gets his pillow and extra blanket for her. If she’s going to sleep on the floor, at least he can make sure she’s not too uncomfortable and doesn’t get chilled.

His friends are pretty awesome _(believe it!)_ , but they can be a little weird too. He hopes she doesn’t mind cup ramen for breakfast.

**Author's Note:**

> *mumble, mumble* Notes.  
> Honestly, after watching the clip of Hinata and Hanabi, I don't feel that the Hyuugas are quite as dysfunctional as often portrayed. The branch house members don't look like they're unhappy with their lot, her grandfather is a bit harsh but he's been through at least two wars and has good reasons for feeling the clan needs an heir strong enough to protect them. Same with her father. They obviously have affection for Hinata, and are willing to be patient teaching her _(she's not hopeless, after all, just timid)_ until Neji tries to kill her in a fit of temper over being denied another chance to make himself stronger in lieu of training someone he regards as _weak_. At that point, they realize they have a serious problem. Because if Neji can see it, so can enemies.  
>  Hiashi isn't a normally hot-tempered man, and I think he's honestly enraged at Hinata not so much because of his pride, but because Hinata basically betrayed all the effort he put into helping her become heir and he took it personally. None of the Hyuugas treat Hinata badly or even think badly of her. Hiashi is furious and says some cutting words, but he also hands over her care to one of the most respected and kind jounins in the village. Her grandfather just sees it as bad luck that Hinata was born first when Hanabi's the one more suited to being heir.  
> Neji, of course, is an exception, but he's a seething mess of angst and associates Hinata with his father's death. He also sees all too clearly that _he_ would likely have been chosen over Hinata as heir, if only his father and Hiashi hadn't been twins. If his father had simply been born as a younger brother instead of a twin, he wouldn't have been relegated to a branch house, and Neji would be a main house Hyuuga _(as far as I can make out)_. I think Neji's less upset about being a branch house Hyuuga than by having it flaunted that he _could_ have been main house, but no, he has to answer to the weak girl who he blames as the catalyst for his father's death. Someone he can't even regard as being _worthy_ of his father's sacrifice. Of course, he also doesn't know that his father chose to be a sacrifice, so there's that, too.


End file.
